


Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

by InTooManyKpopFandoms



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: All relationships are platonic, Christmas, Elf, Elves, Friendship, Gen, Santa Claus - Freeform, santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 14,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTooManyKpopFandoms/pseuds/InTooManyKpopFandoms
Summary: 5 elves from Santa’s workshop end up on Earth in the beginning of December after an accident. They have now brought Christmas in danger. Will they be able to save it in time?
Relationships: Kang Yuchan | Chan & Kim Byeongkwan, Kang Yuchan | Chan & Kim Sehyoon | Wow, Kang Yuchan | Chan/Kim Byeongkwan/Kim Sehyoon | Wow/Lee Donghun/Park Junhee | Jun, Kang Yuchan | Chan/Lee Donghun, Kang Yuchan | Chan/Park Junhee | Jun, Kim Byeongkwan & Park Junhee | Jun, Kim Byeongkwan/Kim Sehyoon | Wow, Kim Byeongkwan/Lee Donghun, Kim Sehyoon | Wow/Lee Donghun, Kim Sehyoon | Wow/Park Junhee | Jun, Lee Donghun/Park Junhee | Jun, Ot5-platonic
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> I will attempt to upload every day, but if I miss a day or two, please forgive me ^_^

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Christmas A.C.E fic. I have done Christmas fics like This one for the last 4 years. Since I’m a bit busy this year, I wasn’t sure whether or not to actually make this, but I have decided to do it.

This fic will work sorta like a Christmas calendar, where I will (hopefully) upload a new chapter every day until Christmas on the 24th of December (if I miss a day somewhere along the line, please forgive me). 

In this fic, A.C.E are elves that bring Christmas in danger by emptying Santa’s supply of Christmas spirit, the force he needs to travel through the portal to the human realm and give presents to everyone. Now, they are stuck on earth, and need to create as much Christmas spirit as they can before the 24th. Will they be able to save Christmas? 

The first chapter will be uploaded later today ^_^

Happy December 1st everyone ^_^


	2. December 1st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to the world and characters ^_^

Far far away, in another world, in a snow covered land, Santa’s workshop is located. The workshop is manned by elves, beings that look human, sound human, even act human, but aren't human. They can live for thousands of years, and have the ability to spread Christmas spirit to even the saddest, angriest people. And every year, the best of the elves are chosen to go with Santa on his yearly trip to the human realm, where they will help give presents to all the people of the earth. Peace and prosperity ruled this realm, the home of Christmas itself…

“I'm gonna get you, idiot!” Lee Donghun yelled as he chased his “friend” down the snow-covered road. The other had stolen a bag of groceries that Donghun had bought on his way home from the workshop, where he had spend most of his day. 

“Kim fucking Byeongkwan, give it back!” He yelled again. Byeongkwan merely laughed at him as he continued running, jumping down a flight of stairs. 

“Catch me if you can, Hyung.” The younger yelled back at him. 

Byeongkwan was pretty confident he could reach his home before Donghun caught him. He wasn't sure what he would do with the groceries then, although he would probably give them back. He wasn't mean, by any means, he just liked teasing Donghun a bit, and the older was he same, having filled Byeongkwan’s shoes with snow just one week prior. 

But his dreams were crushed as he slipped on a patch of ice, went flying, and landed on the ground on his stomach, the bag of groceries lying beside him, a couple of apples having fallen out of the bag. Suddenly, a snowball made contact with his face, the cold, white substance sending a freezing numbness down his face and neck. 

“That's what you get for stealing my groceries, Byeongkwan-ah.” Donghun said, grinning down at him triumphantly, with the bag now in his hand. 

“What are you two idiots up to this time.” Someone asked from behind them. They turned around to see Park Junhee, another one of their friends standing behind them, looking at both of them with a slight smile on his face. 

“Junhee, Byeongkwan stole my groceries.” Donghun complained. 

“Junhee, I was just getting back at him for the snow in my shows last week.” Byeongkwan defended himself. 

And all of a sudden, as if they had tracked them with a GPS, their 2 other friends showed up. Kang Yuchan came skipping through the snow in his “never-ending-happiness” way, with Kim Sehyoon walking calmly just a few steps behind him. 

“Why is Byeongkwannie on the ground?” Sehyoon asked worriedly, helping the younger get up and brushed off the snow from his jacket.

“It doesn't matter. You two” Junhee looked pointedly at both Donghun and Byeongkwan “need to stop this prank war of yours. It's only gonna end up hurting someone.” 

Both of them reluctantly agreed to bury the axe, at least for a while. They didn't hate each other, they actually really cared for each other a lot. But they both loved getting under each others’ (and sometimes others’) skin. And then the other typically ended up seeking revenge. 

“To talk about something cooler, they're gonna reveal this year's “Santa helpers” tomorrow.” Yuchan said enthusiastically. The “Santa helpers” were the team of elves that would get to go with Santa to earth on Christmas Eve to deliver the presents. It was the dream of all elf-children to go someday.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Channie, but you're still too young to go. Maybe in another hundred years.” Junhee said. The selected elves were usually quite experienced, and it had been over 200 years since an elf below the age of 300 had been chosen. So Chan, with his 215 years was still a bit too young. Byeongkwan was 250, also still too young. Junhee was 380, and had been to earth once, about 40 years ago. Sehyoon was 412, and Donghun was 416. They had also been to earth once each. All three of the oldest had talked about it being one of the craziest, but also most exciting things they had ever tried. 

“I know, I know. But I can always hope, right?” The youngest asked, before receiving a comforting pat on the head from Junhee. 

“But, even though none of us are likely to be picked, we can always go take a look at the portal.” Byeongkwan said. The portal was powered by the Earth’s Christmas spirit, and since they were getting closer to Christmas, it was starting to form. Every year, Earth would have to generate enough Christmas spirit, sometimes referred to as “CS” for santas sleigh to go to Earth and return again. After that, it was usually completely drained, and then they would begin gathering CS for the next year’s trip. That's why Santa only ever took one trip a year. It was nearly impossible to gather enough CS for more than that. 

“True. If we stay far enough away, we won't risk being sucked into it. We can go tomorrow, after the names have been revealed.” Junhee said. 

After agreeing to met the next day, they bid each other good evening, and went their separate ways, having no idea that the next day would change their lives, and possibly the lives of every elf and human alive.


	3. December 2nd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand the accident that we waited for happens. But accidents is what sets off all great adventures, right?

The portal was an…interesting place, to say the least. For about 10 months of the year, there was nothing but a large snow-covered field. Since the entire realm was covered by snow and ice year-round, it didn't stand out that much. But the law of the land stated that it was forbidden to build anything on the field. 

And that was because of those last 2 months of the year. Around the beginning or middle of November, the portal would start to form. It looked like a vortex in all the colors of the rainbow. It was powered by Christmas spirit, generated by the humans on Earth gearing up for the holidays. It was the thing allowing Santa to travel to earth in his sleigh. If there hasn't been generated enough Christmas spirit, Santa couldn't travel to Earth. That had only happened a few times ever, usually because of wars or other disasters on earth, which usually prevented the humans from creating Christmas spirit. They couldn't prevent wars or natural disasters, but they could prevent other things from accidentally disturbing the portal and the Christmas spirit. Or at least, so they thought. 

As Junhee looked at the portal, it was almost fully formed. All the colors of the rainbow swirling together, so much that it was difficult to distinguish the individual colors from each other. He had looked at it many times, before, but it looked just as breathtaking every year. 

As expected, none of them had been picked as “Santa helpers”, so they had gone to look at the portal instead. They were still standing quite a bit away from the portal. If you got too close, you could risk accidentally being sucked through it, and possibly use up a large part of the Christmas spirit that Santa would have needed for his trip this year. 

“We should go a bit closer, to get a better look at it.” Byeongkwan said. Junhee wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but they moved a bit closer nontheless. As they got closer, they started feeling the gravity of the portal pulling them. It wasn't strong enough to suck them in, but they probably shouldn't go any closer. 

“Be careful. We don't want anyone to ruin Christmas this year, right?” Junhee said, only slightly joking. He could feel the pull, and was suddenly very aware of his footing on the snow. His steps got more careful, more con so of the ground and snow underneath them. But the others didn't seem as concerned as Junhee was. He usually acted like the parent of the group, the one constantly telling the others to slow down, to be careful, to use their heads a bit more than their hearts. But rarely did they listen. 

And they didn't listen this time either. Byeongkwan and Yuchan were both practically skipping and running around. Donghun was jumping up and down, partially to stay warm in the cold weather, partially to keep up with the younger 2’s energy. Sehyoon was just walking, although not as carefully as Junhee, but Sehyoon, who could be a bit clumsy at times, was worrying most of the time. With that amount of risk, something bad was bound to happen. 

Suddenly, Yuchan got a bit too close to the portal, and slipped on a patch of ice. He started getting dragged towards the portal. Byeongkwan grabbed onto him, but it only resulted in both of them being pulled towards the vortex. 

Subconsciously, the older three started running to help them. But if they had used their heads, they would have realized that they probably wouldn't be able to help much. Instead, they all got pulled towards the portal, faster and faster as it neared, as the gravity and pull got stronger.

They could hear yells and screams around them as bystanders noticed what was happening, but no one was close enough or strong enough to save them. 

Junhee grabbed onto Byeongkwan, who held onto Yuchan. At the same time, Donghun and Sehyoon grabbed each other, and Sehyoon held onto Junhee’s other arm. And together, they disappeared through the multicolored portal, into the unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is important, but not exactly exciting. The more interesting parts of the story will begin soon, I promise ^_~


	4. December 3rd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys wake up on earth, and try to get used to their new situation

When Donghun awoke, he was lying in a snowy field, or at least, he thought it was a field. For a moment, he thought he was still back in his own world, lying on the same snow covered field, where he had been the last time he was conscious. But that was until he saw the buildings surrounding the “field”. Tall buildings and colorful neon lights could be seen all the way around him. It wasn't a field he had awoken in, it was a park. 

Park…

Suddenly, Donghun remembered the other, and looked around trying to find them. He saw all 4 of them a few feet from where he was himself, although they were wearing different clothes. Human clothes. 

“Where are we?” Donghun asked Junhee, who was sitting up near him. 

“I have no clue. We're in a city somewhere. But judging from the writing on the signs around here” Junhee said, pointing the the signs around the park “we're in Korea.” 

Donghun sighed. They had apparently landed in Korea. Elves got training in almost all languages in the world, so reading the signs wouldn't be much of a problem. 

They all got up and brushed the snow off of them. 

“Sooooo…here we are.” Byeongkwan said. “What happens now?” Junhee sighed at the question. 

“Well, for starters, we will need somewhere to stay. But we have no money, so that might be difficult. And then there's the elephant in the room, that we went through the portal, and probably exhausted all of the Christmas spirit that had been built up for Christmas this year. We won't be able to get home, not to mention that Santa won't be able to travel to earth. Needless to say, we’re in so much trouble right now.” Junhee said, running a hand through his dark hair. Sehyoon put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting way. 

“Okay. First order of business, we need to find somewhere to stay, and some money too. There isn't a secret “elf trust” or “elf bank” around here or something?” He asked, the last part said jokingly to try and lighten the mood a bit. 

“Sadly, no. We will have to earn money in a human way. But how?” Junhee pondered. They started walking out of the park and came across a busy street. 

People seemed to be gathered in groups, almost standing in riches or half circles around smaller groups of people. 

“What is happening? What are all these people looking at?” Yuchan asked, wondering. As the 5 of them stepped closer, they noticed that the people in the middle of the circle were singing. And the people around them were gathering to hear them. 

“Excuse me?” Junhee turned to one of the other bystanders. “What are these people doing?” He asked. The woman he was speaking to looked at him questioningly, as if trying to figure out what he meant by the question. 

“Well, they're busking. Singing and dancing for attention and money. And they're quite good at it too.” She said. Junhee thanked her for her time, and pulled the others away. 

“That's it. That's how we’ll earn money. We will busk.” Junhee said. All elves were trained in singing, so all of them had decent singing voices. 

And so it happened. They started standing in an empty spot along the road, and started going through their repertoire of Christmas carols. About halfway through Silent night, a few people seemed to take interest in them, standing for a few moments to observe this new group of buskers. They left pretty quickly though. But the minimal attention kept them going. As they went through more and more songs, more and more people started looking their way. 

And people actually started handing them money. 

A few hours later, the boys were checked into a motel. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't that big. But they had a roof over their heads, and they were content. 

“Okay, tomorrow, we will need to figure out how to start spreading more Christmas spirit. We only have 3 weeks left to create as much as we can, and hope that it's enough to open the portal again for Christmas. Any ideas about how that can be done?” Junhee asked. 

“Children are the biggest source of Christmas spirit. But how can we use that to our advantage.” Byeongkwan said. It was true. Children still had that youthful belief that the world was a magical place, and it allowed them to spread even more Christmas spirit than adults. 

“I have an idea. How about going to a children's hospital? There are some kids who could probably use some happiness, and we could make them happy, and spread Christmas spirit.” Chan suggested. 

“It sounds possible. But we can talk about it tomorrow. I'm getting tired.” Sehyoon said. The others agreed, and with that, they all went to bed and dosed off, flying to their very own dreamlands.


	5. December 4th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you guys seen the latest A.C.E covers? They’re so good. I love the “Someone you loved” cover, it is my favorite, but I also really liked their cover of “Easier”. Their “Old town road” cover was fun, but since I’m not a fan of the song, I wasn’t that into it. But what did you guys think?

The boys woke up at the motel the next morning, all momentarily confused as to where they were, before remembering the past few days’ events. After having had breakfast, they sat down to make a plan for the day. 

“Okay, we should have money enough to stay here for at least another week, so right now, our priority is Christmas spirit. We have brought Christmas in danger, and the only way to save it is to gather enough spirit.” Junhee said. 

“We have really screwed up this time, right?” Yuchan asked. 

“Yeah, we have.” Donghun answered. 

“I'm sorry. I know it's kinda my fault we’re here.” Yuchan said, pouting and looking down at the ground. Donghun reached over and put a comforting hand on the youngest’s arm.

“Hey, we're in this together now, okay? It was an accident, and we can't do anything about it now. We have to just...work hard to get out of this.” The oldest said. The others nodded. 

“Donghun is right. What happened happened. We don't blame you, Yuchan. Right now, the only thing we need to think about is how to get out of this mess.” Junhee said. 

“Last night, we talked about trying to gain Christmas spirit from kids. Since they have more Christmas spirit than adults, it would be good to use them.” Sehyoon said. They only had 3 weeks to save Christmas, they had no time to waste. 

“Channie mentioned going to a childrens’ hospital, to try and cheer them up and gain spirit. That way we might also spread happiness to their families. It would be a good way to spread happiness and Christmas spirit to a lot of people.” 

And that how, 2 hours later, the 5 of them walked into a children's hospital. They decided to split up to reach as many children as possible. 

Byeongkwan walked around in the building for a while, until he came across a room where a young girl was lying in a hospital bed alone. 

“Hello.” Byeongkwan greeted, as he peeked his head in the room. The girl looked at him with suspicion and wariness. 

“Hello. What are you doing here? Who are you?” She asked. The girl couldn't have been much more than 9 years of age. 

“My name is Byeongkwan. I'm one of Santa’s elves, and I'm here to cheer you up.” Byeongkwan blurted out before realizing how crazy it sounded. But the girl didn't look at him like he was crazy. Her expression had suddenly changed from confusion and suspicion, to wonder and happiness. 

“Really? Are you an elf?” She asked, suddenly very excited. Byeongkwan nodded his head. 

“I certainly am. I work at Santa’s workshop, and I am here to save Christmas for all children of the world.” Byeongkwan said, lowering his voice, as if he was telling her a secret. 

“That's so cool. Can you save Christmas for me too?” The girl asked. 

“Of course I can.” Byeongkwan said confidently. 

Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted as a nurse came storming into the room, with 2 worried-looking adults behind her. 

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” The nurse asked. Byeongkwan realized that it was the same question that the girl had asked earlier, although this time, it was said with hostility and anger rather than mere suspicion. Byeongkwan held up his hands as if to defend himself. 

“I-I'm Santa’s elf. I'm here to spread happiness and Christmas spirit.” Byeongkwan said, wondering if the adults would be as excited about the revelation as the girl had been just minutes before. 

“We haven't ordered any elves until the 3rd week of December. You do not have permission to be here and harrass these children and their parents.” The nurse said. Byeongkwan then realized that the adults standing behind the nurse must have been the little girl’s parents. 

“But mommy, daddy, he's really an elf. He said he works at Santa’s workshop.” The girl defended him. But the 3 adult humans in the room didn't seem to believe either of them. 

“Out, right now. Or I'll call the police and have them arrest you.” The nurse threatened. Byeongkwan quickly ran out of the room, although he could hear the little girl’s protests from inside the room. 

He had never even found out why she was in the hospital. He hadn't helped spread any Christmas spirit to that girl, or her family. He might have actually made everything worse for them. 

Byeongkwan waited outside the building for the others. After having waited for about an hour, they were all gathered again. 

“Any luck?” Byeongkwan asked. 

“Not much. Most of the children were either sleeping or with their parents.” Junhee said. 

“I got to talk to one, but then I got kicked out by a nurse threatening me with calling the authorities.” Byeongkwan said. 

“I think I managed to cheer a little boy up. But I was also threatened with the police.” Donghun said. 

“So generally, not a very successful day.” Junhee said, disappointed. Not in the others or himself, but just the lack of result that they had seen. They had spent hours on this, and hasn't gotten much out of it. They were gonna have to think bigger, if they wanted to reach their goal. A lot bigger.


	6. December 5th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is reading this story, please consider leaving kudos or even a comment. It would mean a lot to me to get some response, and it would really motivate me.

The next morning, they gathered around the table in their room again. After the fiasco of the previous day, they all knew that they had to change their approach. 

“We don't have the time to try to spread the Christmas spirit to individual people. We need something bigger, something that will touch many people at once.” Junhee said, half to the others, half pondering to himself. 

A few moments went by where each of them tried coming up with an idea. 

“How about some kind of charity? Or volunteering somewhere?” Byeongkwan asked. 

“It might still be too small a scale. We need something bigger. Time is not on our side. We can try it, if we can't find anything else, though.” Donghun said. 

“How about going back to singing? That's something we can do reasonably well, and it seemed to work the other day.” Yuchan said. 

“Perhaps. But in that case, we'd need more people to listen. 10 people won't do the trick.” Junhee said. 

“I might have an idea.” Sehyoon said. The others looked at him expectantly. 

“How about we spilt up into groups? Then we could do several of these things at once, and reach out to as many people as possible? So some of us could sing, while others could go volunteer somewhere for a charity or something?” He said. The others looked at him suspiciously. Sehyoon was great, don't get them wrong, but he often said…weird stuff. But this wasn't weird. Not at all. 

“That's not a bad idea. At all.” Junhee said, sounding optimistic for the first time in the day. 

“We can do it tomorrow. Byeongkwan and I can do the volunteering, and the 3 of you can do the singing. Then we can figure out what works the best, and possibly do more of it.” Sehyoon said. 

“That's a great idea. We should start planning, so that we can use the entire day tomorrow for this.” Yuchan said. 

And they did. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan started looking into local charities that were looking for volunteers, while also taking into account how many people they would be in contact with. They ended up signing up for helping out at a charity event for homeless people in the city. That would certainly help a lot of people, and hopefully also gather them some Christmas spirit. 

In the meantime, Junhee, Donghun and Yuchan were planning their busking. They were a lot better prepared this time than the first day they arrived at Earth, and had to basically improvise. They gathered as many Christmas songs as they could, ran them through once or twice to make sure they could handle them, and wrote them down in order. They wanted the “show” to last as long as possible, to get as many people interested as possible, while at the same time not over-exerting their voices. 

As they sat down for dinner that night, after having used the entire day for planning and researching, each groups shared their ideas and plans with the others. 

“So we don't totally know what we have gotten ourselves into, but it was something about showing up, helping with decorations, and then, when the visitors started showing up, we would help sell stuff or gather money in some other way. Everything will be donated to a charity to help combat the city’s homelessness. It seems like a pretty good thing to do, and something that would touch the hearts of many people, both the ones giving, and the ones receiving.” Byeongkwan explained. Sehyoon nodded, agreeing with him. 

“It sounds like a wonderful plan. I'm sure you guys will do well.” Donghun said. 

“We also have a plan for tomorrow. We will go to the same street as we were on the first day, since there seemed to be a lot of people interested in the busking there, and we will sing as many Christmas carols as possible. If there are a lot of people, we could also try to get them to sing along. That would probably bring them in an even better mood. Money won't be the main factor for tomorrow. It will all be about making people happy and creating a good and comfortable atmosphere. That will really help getting the Christmas spirit out of people.” Junhee explained. 

After hearing both plans, and after dinner, they all decided to go to bed early, in order to get as much out of the next day as possible. It would be hard work, but if they could achieve their goal, it would all be worth it. 

This year’s Christmas was in danger, and they might have a chance to save it. It had to work. If it didn't, there would be no Christmas this year. If it didn't, they wouldn't be able to go home to their own world.


	7. December 6th

Sehyoon and Byeongkwan walked into a large gymnastics hall, the location for the charity event, around 9AM the next day. The charity event consisted of a number of small stands selling everything from baked goods and candy, to home-knitted socks, and all the money would be donated to a good cause. And since the event was being held in December, it was Christmas themed. 

As the 2 of them walked in, there was already a few people walking around the area, looking at the different stands. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon went up to the person, who seemed to be in charge of the event. 

“Hello. We are supposed to be volunteering here. Is there anything for us to do?” Byeongkwan asked. The man looked at them for a moment before fetching a piece of paper. 

“Names?” He simply asked. 

“Kim Byeongkwan and Kim Sehyoon.” Byeongkwan said, pointing to himself first, and then to Sehyoon. 

“Yes. You can start helping with the last of the decorations. This place needs a more Christmassy feel. You can go talk to Minhyung, he's the one in charge of the atmosphere.” The man said, pointing towards another man in a yellow vest at the other end of the room. 

Sehyoon ended up spending the next hour putting ornaments on plastic Christmas trees around the room, as well as outside the doors, while Byeongkwan rolled out red carpets for the guests to walk on. 

After the hour, there seemed to be more guests, and Byeongkwan was moved to tend to a stand selling candied fruit, while Sehyoon was told to sell chocolates in a another. 

In another part of the city, Junhee, Yuchan and Donghun were getting ready for their busking. They were standing on the same street as they did the first day they arrived, but at another place. 

After having sung through Silent night and Deck the halls, they had garnered a few looks, and 2 people even stood and watched them for a while. It seemed like a strange concept to them, people just standing and staring at them singing. But if people were entertained and it helped with their mission, then it certainly couldn't hurt, right? 

They sang Have yourself a merry little Christmas , and a small group of people started forming. They attempted to get the small “crowd” to sing along, but only a fe started humming in response. 

It was going to take a bit more persuasion for them to start participating. But the three of them were not going to give up that easily. They had a mission, a goal. And they weren't going to rest until they had fulfilled it. 

They started singing O holy night, and even more people started stopping in front of them. At this point, their crowd (which might now actually count as a legitimate crowd), counted around 20 people. It wasn't a lot, but it was something. 

“Everyone” Junhee began as the song ended. “The next song is one you probably know, so don't be afraid to sing along.” He encouraged the audience. Singing for people could bring them some Christmas spirit, but it was better for them to participate themselves, to get involved in some kind of community. 

As Yuchan, Donghun and Junhee started off singing Jingle bells, they could slowly hear the audience joining in. And as more and more people started singing, others were inspired to join as well. And as the voices grew in volume, they also grew in numbers. And even the crowd grew a fair amount. 

Back at the charity event, both Byeongkwan and Sehyoon were busy. A surprising amount of people had shown up. 

“2 candied apples, here you go.” Byeongkwan said, handing the sugar-coated fruit to a young woman. “And merry Christmas.” He added. The woman smiled at him as she walked away, and he turned to the next costumer. 

“1 apple please.” A elderly man said. 

“Just a moment, sir.” Byeongkwan responded. 

“Is it true that all of these money will go to a good cause?” The man asked. 

“Yes, it is. All of the money will be donated to help fund homeless shelters around the city, as well as to provide opportunities to people living in poverty.” Byeongkwan said. They had gotten a speedy course in salesmanship before being sent to the stands, as well as a small rehearsed speech to give when someone asked about where the money was going. 

“Ahh, that sounds like a worthy cause.” The man said. Byeongkwan gave him the apple, and wished him a merry Christmas, like he did to all of the customers. 

At Sehyoon’s stand, the older elf was busy packaging chocolates before selling it. All of the chocolates had cute names indicating what was in them. Marcy was chocolate chocolate-covered marzipan, Freddie Fresh was mint filling, etc, but Sehyoon still found all of the different chocolates confusing. He did get a bunch of customers, though, so he couldn't be completely awful at the job. 

“Thank you for helping the good cause. Have a good day, and a merry Christmas.” He said, watching as the customer left his stand with a small bag of chocolates in his hand. He definitely hoped he was helping a bit with their mission. Wishing people a merry Christmas, at a Christmas-themed event meant to raise money for people living in poverty must have had some effect on the amount of Christmas spirit. 

He just hoped that they could touch other people’s heart enough to make them generate as much, and possibly even more Christmas spirit than they had during the first 11 months of the year. He sincerely hoped so. He didn't want to be stuck here on Earth. He wanted to go home, back to where he belonged. And he knew the others missed their homes as well. 

After Byeongkwan and Sehyoon got off from work, they went back to the motel. The others were already at home, having arrived about an hour earlier. 

“Hi. How did your day go?” Yuchan asked as soon as they stepped through the door. 

“It was good. I think I've wished about 200 people a merry Christmas. So I'm hoping it has helped. How about you guys?” Byeongkwan asked. 

“It went well. People seemed very into it, at least after a while.” The youngest answered. Junhee poked his head of of the kitchen, where he and Donghun were preparing dinner. 

“So overall a pretty successful day?” He asked, more as a statement than as actual question. Sehyoon had basically collapsed on the couch after walking in the door, seemingly not having enough energy to stay on his feet. Byeongkwan had to drag him to the table when food was served. 

“We will have to make a new plan tomorrow for our next step, but for now, left just be happy that today has been a success, at least by our standards.” Junhee said.


	8. December 7th

Junhee woke up feeling very well-rested. He had had the best night of sleep since they arrived on Earth. He suspected that it was due to the previous day. He felt like they had touched many people throughout the day. It had given him hope, hope that maybe they would indeed be able to go home. 

“We can't start relaxing now. We still have a lot to do. Thankfully, since it's December, the natural spread of Christmas spirit is on our side, but it might not be enough on its own.” Donghun said. Because of the proximity of Christmas, and the entire atmosphere of this time of year, a lot of Christmas spirit was formed naturally at this time of year, even without their help. But because they had wasted about 11 months worth of Christmas spirit, they still had quite a lot to catch up to. 

“We need to do something huge. Like, seriously big. Something that will be noticed by every person in all of Seoul.” Byeongkwan said, using arm movements to emphasize the word “huge”. 

“But what would we do? We don't know anyone here, and we're almost out of money again.” Junhee said. They had been staying at the motel for almost a week now, and their funds were running a bit low. With the money that the previous day’s busking had brought in, they could probably afford 3 more nights, but not much more. They needed more money. 

“We will figure everything out. We all had a stressful day yesterday. Just for today, let’s rest and think about what to do tomorrow.” Junhee said. 

Most of the day went by with the 5 of them relaxing. Sehyoon went for a walk around noon to check out more of the city, Byeongkwan and Yuchan were watching a movie. Junhee was reading a book in his bed, and Donghun went out to buy groceries. And for a while, it felt like they were human. They were just 5 young human men, chilling at home after have had a long day. 

But they weren't. They were 5 elves who had brought this year’s Christmas in danger, and now had to save it. They might look human, they might sound human, and they might act human, but they would never be human. 

And that scared Junhee a bit. It was human to fail, it was human to make mistake. But they weren't human. They couldn't be allowed to fail. The happiness of millions, even billions of people were on the line, and they were the only ones who could protect that happiness. It was a lot of pressure to put on 5 people. 

“Junhee! Come out here right now.” Byeongkwan yelled. Junhee scrambled out of bed, fearing that someone (probably Byeongkwan or Yuchan) had set fire to something. Instead, he was faced with Byeongkwan sitting on the couch with a computer in front of him. Junhee had no idea how he had gotten his hands on that thing, and he didn't really want to know. Elves didn't really use computers. They only knew about them because of how many humans wished for one for Christmas. 

“Don't yell so loud if nothing's wrong, please. I thought you were dying or something.” Junhee complained. 

“You have to see this, it's incredible.” Byeongkwan said. 

“What is it?” Junhee asked. 

“Apparently, someone filmed you, Donghun and Yuchan yesterday, and posted it online. You have, as the humans say, gone viral.” 

“Gone viral? How is that possible?” Junhee asked, suddenly very intrigued by this phenomenon. 

“The video, which has only been up for a day, already has over 100.000 views. And a bunch of liked on SNS. And look at the comments too.” Byeongkwan said. Junhee looked at the video’s comment section. 

‘This is wonderful’

‘They're very talented, are they idols?’ 

‘This has put me in the mood for Christmas.’

The sentiment of the last comment was echoed throughout the comments. Their rendition of Have yourself a merry little Christmas had touched the heart of many, not just the ones present on the streets on that day, but many more people online. Junhee suddenly understood the humans’ obsession with the Internet. It gave them access to so many things at once, gave them the opportunity to discover new things. And now they had discovered them. 

“Byeongkwan, this is amazing.” Junhee said, eyes still glued to the screen. 

“We have to tell the others about this.” Byeongkwan said. He called for the others, who were all as awe-stricken as Junhee had been. 

This could be the start of something big. And hopefully good.


	9. December 9th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry that there wasn’t a chapter up yesterday. I had very little motivation to write anything, and I had zero inspiration as well. This chapter isn’t completely satisfactory either, but it introduces an element which will become quite important to the story moving forward.

When they woke up the next morning, the video had garnered over 300.000 views. It was almost absurd to sit for just 30 minutes and continually see the views go up. Yuchan didn't even want to know how much Christmas spirit this potentially could create. From the comments, he guessed it was a lot. Many of them mentioned getting in the mood for Christmas or making them feel Christmassy. And the likes went up too. There were also a couple of dislikes, but they were heavily out-weighted by the positivity surrounding the video. 

“This is amazing. This could really help our mission a lot.” Junhee said at the lunch table. 

“Yeah, it's practically a Christmas miracle. If this continues to spread, and we try to do a few more things to spread more Christmas spirit, we might be able to make up the spirit that we lost while traveling here.” Byeongkwan said. 

“What happens when we succeed? Will we just go home?” Yuchan asked. 

“If we succeed, on Christmas night, Santa will travel to earth, and we can go home with him. The elves who saw us dissappear has definitely already spread the word about it, and there's no way Santa doesn't know yet.” Junhee said. 

Santa wasn't like most humans thought of him. He was basically a king to the elves. They didn't see him much, only around Christmas time. He didn't really visit the workshop either, that was managed by elves who had been handpicked by Santa himself. But he did have the task of traveling to Earth every year to deliver presents to everyone. 

The atmosphere had gotten a lot brighter around the motel these past few days. The future was looking much brighter. The past 3 days had been very successful, and everyone was feeling much more optimistic. 

“Just over 2 weeks till we can go home.” Byeongkwan said, partly to the others, partly to himself. 

“But our mission is not done yet. We won't be able to know when it's complete, so we should aim high. We would rather have far too much spirit than just a bit too little.” Donghun said. 

“So what should we do? Go busking again?” Sehyoon asked. 

“I don't know if that would really help. We got lucky with the filming, but the other time we tried it, we didn't get much out of it.” Junhee said. 

“Well, we need to do SOMETHING, right? We can't just sit here for the next 2 weeks and hope that everything works out in our favor.” Byeongkwan said. 

Yes, we have to do something, but it's… “ Junhee started before being interrupted by a loud sneeze. 

“Sorry.” Yuchan said, sniffling, skating his head and blinking his eyes to get rid of the feeling of the sneeze. 

“You okay, Channie? You've seemed a bit quiet today.” Donghun asked. 

“I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I think I'm just gonna go lie down and try to sleep.” The youngest said, getting up from the table and going towards the bedroom. 

“Should we go out to try to get something done? It's already getting kinda late, so if we want to do something, it should probably be now.” Donghun said. 

It ended with Junhee, Byeongkwan and Sehyoon going out busking again, while Donghun stayed home to look after Yuchan. No one really had any better ideas as to what could be done. The three of them didn't have the same luck as they had the other day. People didn't seem all that interested, and after about an hour, they decided to call it a day. They returned home disappointed, not in themselves, but rather the result of the day. 

After several days of success, now they were starting to slow down.


	10. December 10th

The next morning, Yuchan’s condition still hadn't gotten better. Quite contrary, it had gotten significantly worse. 

“This is so strange. Elves shouldn't get sick.” Donghun said as he sat at the table with Sehyoon. 

“I know. We can't exactly take him to the hospital, they would definitely find something strange about him, and by extension, all of us.” Sehyoon said. 

But it was true what Donghun had said. Elves weren't meant to get sick, ever. It barely ever happened, and when it did, it was a mild fever or cough, not them spending most of the night throwing up and generally feeling miserable. 

They both went quiet for a while. Then a terrifying thought came into Donghun’s head. 

“You don't think it...the elf fever, right?” He asked worriedly. Sehyoon looked over at him in alarm. 

“That's just a myth, Donghun. I'm sure Yuchan will be better by tomorrow.” Sehyoon said. But internally, he was not so sure. 

The elf fever was a kinda mythical illness, more like a rumor than an actual factual disease. Most saw it more as a way to deter elves from going through the portal without permission. Most elf-kids were told tales about elves, who had gone to earth and stayed there, often because of affairs and romances with humans, and who had died soon after from a mysterious disease. But only few considered it to be real, especially since elves didn't usually go to Earth, or stay there for more than a few days around Christmas. 

“What's with the long faces? Did something happen?” Junhee asked, walking in the door. He had been out grocery shopping, stocking up on food. 

“Donghun thinks Yuchan might have the elf fever. I've told him that it's impossible. The elf fever isn't real, right?” Sehyoon said. 

“I don't know, Sehyoon. It fits. We've been on Earth for almost a week now, and Yuchan has started getting sick. It's longer than Santa’s helpers stay on Earth for Christmas.” Donghun said. 

“So you think Yuchan is dying? That we all are? Why aren't the rest of us sick yet, then?” Junhee asked. 

“Maybe it hits younger elves quicker. That's why Yuchan is sick, but the rest of us are still okay. We should try to keep Byeongkwan away from Channie. If it really is the fever, then he will fall sick in the next couple of days anyway.” Donghun said. 

“Will he be able to make it to the 24th? If it really is the fever, he should be cured by returning to our world, but he can't do that until the 24th.” Sehyoon said. 

Suddenly the fact that their youngest had come down with a deadly, mythical illness didn't seem that far fetched. They wanted to think that that wasn't it, but elves didn't get sick, not unless they were away from their own world for an extended period of time. The sickness was, according to the myths, an instrument deviced to keep the elves from running from their responsibilities and their own world. The fact that it was real made their home seem much more like a prison than a home. 

“He has to. We all have to make it till the 24th. There isn't any other cure than going back home. We need to work even harder now to create Christmas spirit. If we all start falling ill, we won't be able to do anything for long. There is still 2 weeks till we can go home, and probably a few more days until the rest of us start feeling the symptoms.” 

And suddenly, it felt like the hands of the clock had started turning twice as fast. Most of them, if not all, would become unable to do anything before the 24th came. They would have to finish their mission before they all started falling sick.


	11. December 11th

Early the next day, while the sky was still somewhat dark, Junhee went out into the city to look around, perhaps get some inspiration for their mission. There were lights everywhere, on nearly every shop, building and tree. 

Junhee had started to worry a lot, not only about their mission, but his own and his friends’ lives. They were all still relatively young in comparison to many other elves. They shouldn't be dying so soon. But they might be. At this moment, Yuchan was already feeling more and more sick as the days passed, his condition already worsening from the previous day. This morning, Byeongkwan had cleared his throat, and the others had basically panicked (he had reassured them that he wasn't feeling ill, at least not yet. 

It was kinda ironic, a time of so much light and happiness for the humans, brought darkness and possibly tragedy for Junhee. 

They had earned more money during their last busking, so staying at the motel wasn't a problem. 

The city’s colored multi-colored lights stung in his eyes, both taunting and comforting surrounded by the dark sky, which was starting to turn a more red-ish, purple-ish color. 

‘Wait, that's it’ Junhee thought. 

Light, comfort, hope

Those were the things that people needed in the cold winter time. Those were the things that made Christmas so special, the warmth in the middle of the cold, the light in the middle of the darkness. 

Maybe that was the key. Light. 

Junhee rushed home, practically throwing open the front door. 

“I have an idea!” He exclaimed loudly. The 3 other elves were all sat at the table, eating breakfast. For a moment they looked at him with surprise, obviously not expecting him to be home, nor to barge in so suddenly. But after a couple of seconds, their surprise turned to expectation. 

“So, I was walking around the city, right? And what did I see everywhere?” Junhee asked, obviously trying to get the others to participate. 

“I don't know. Snow? Cars? People?” Donghun asked. Junhee shook his head. 

“No. Lights. There are lights everywhere. It's like the lights give people comfort, hope, optimism, and such.” Junhee said, still very enthusiastic about his “discovery”. 

“So what do you want us to do? Decorate this entire motel with lights? I don't think we will be allowed to do that.” Sehyoon said, before putting a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. 

“How about a billboard? Like a massive screen in the middle of the city. We could write a nice message or something on there, and a LOT of lights.” Junhee said. 

“One problem with that though. Those things are expensive. We got a bit of money the other day, but nowhere near enough for something like that.” Byeongkwan said. 

“How about we ask people to donate to it? That way people would be invested in it themselves, and would be able to contribute to the spread of Christmas spirit and positivity.” Junhee said, feeling very optimistic about the idea. 

“Like, just stand in the streets and ask people to donate to buying a billboard with a nice Christmas message? Do you think people would really pay to that?” Byeongkwan asked, feeling slightly less enthusiastic. 

“We can at least give it a chance. Let's try it tomorrow. Who knows, maybe something amazing will happen.” Donghun said.


	12. December 12th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is reading this story, I would really appreciate a comment. It gives me a lot of motivation and helps brighten up my day ^_^

Around 10 pm the next morning, Donghun, Sehyoon, Junhee and Byeongkwan were almost ready to leave to go try to gather money for the billboard. 

“We're gonna leave for a little while, but we’ll be back later this afternoon. You gonna be okay in the meantime, Yuchannie?” Donghun asked, patting the youngest elf’s hair. 

“Mmmh.” Yuchan merely mumbled. Donghun took it as a ‘yes’. 

He wasn't happy leaving him here all by himself, but they could use as many people as possible to help gather the money. And it wasn't really like Yuchan would take much notice of their presence or absence. He didn't seem to take notice of much anymore. His condition was deteriorating rapidly, and the others were worried about him, as well as themselves. They expected Byeongkwan to be next, considering that he was the second youngest. But they had no idea when it would be. Until a few days ago, they had considered the elf fever little more than a myth, an old-wife's tale meant to scare kids. But now it had gotten scarily real. They could all be dead before Christmas, for all they knew. For now, they only really had Yuchan’s condition as an indicator of what was waiting for the rest of them. 

The 4 of them left the motel and headed for the city center. They set up their “base” at one of the largest squares of that area of the city, and decided to start walking around, asking people to participate in spreading Christmas spirit. The humans apparently thought of something different when you mentioned “Christmas spirit” to them, more like a type of atmosphere or mood, rather than the force basically powering Christmas. 

So when they all went around asking people to help spread Christmas spirit, most people didn't appear to take them seriously. Some people gave them a bit of change or whatever money they happened to have in their pockets, but it wasn't nearly enough to buy a large billboard in the city. 

“Excuse me, ma'am. Would you be interested in donating to a large billboard wishing people a merry Christmas?” Junhee asked a woman passing by. She just shook her head and kept walking. 

It didn't take much more than 30 minutes, and the rejection of about 95% of the people they asked, for them to start getting disheartened. They were never ping to achieve even a small billboard at this pace, let alone the large one they had dreamt about getting. 

But then something akin to a Christmas miracle happened. A woman came over to them all of a sudden. 

“Hey, you're those guys from that singing video, right?” She asked, pointing at Junhee and Donghun. 

“Yes, yes we are.” Junhee confirmed. 

“I was totally blown away by you guy’s singing. You're really good.” She suddenly turned to Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. “Do you two sing too? Are you, like, a group?” She asked. 

“Sure, we can sing.” Byeongkwan said. It wasn't a lie. He and Sehyoon could both easily hold their own when singing, but just not exactly at the level of the others. 

“Are you guys busking right now?” The woman asked. 

“No, actually we were trying to gather money to buy a large billboard and use it to wish everyone a merry Christmas. But people don't really seem to be paying much attention.” Sehyoon said. 

“Listen here. I have a plan that can help all of us. My father is wealthy. If you can do me a favor, I can get you the money for your billboard.” The woman said. The boys were very taken aback by this proposal. 

“Really? We don't even know you, and you don't know us, and now you want to give us a large sum of money?” Donghun asked, suspicion lacing his voice. 

“My name is Kim Hyeim. I am currently in the prices of establishing my own entertainment agency, and I would love to have you guys as trainees. Your video really impressed me, and if your friend here” she said, gesturing towards Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. “can also sing, you could form an amazing group.” She said. 

“Oh wow.” Junhee breathed, very much surprised at this turn of events. 

“Hyeim-ssi, I am afraid we cannot accept your proposal. We will...not be staying in this city for long. I'm sorry. But if you have another favor, we would love to help you.” Junhee said, trying to be as diplomatic as he could. If he spoke well, maybe they could still get the money. 

“Okay. New idea. If you 4 would be interested in coming to a recording studio tomorrow and recording a Christmas song, I would be very grateful. And I would of course still get you the money.” Hyeim said. 

“We would be happy to oblige.” Junhee said, earning small, almost inaudible “what”’s from both Donghun and Sehyoon.

They made an agreement with Hyeim to meet up with her at a small recording studio the next day. 

And she would bring them the money they needed to buy the billboard. They went home with hope in their hearts. At least for now, things seemed to become brighter.


	13. December 13th

The next morning, the 4 of them were getting ready to go to the recording studio, where they had agreed to meet with Hyeim and a producer she knew. 

Donghun was almost certain it was some kind of scam. It just sounded too good to be true. They would sing a song, and in return, Hyeim would give them an disproportional amount of money in return for them to buy the billboard. 

‘That billboard better be worth it.’ He thought. 

As they arrived at the assigned address, they thought they had gotten lost, or had been given the wrong place. There wasn't anything special about the place, just normal brick buildings. If Byeongkwan hadn't noticed a small sign labeled “BEAT Studios”, the name Hyeim had given them the previous day, they would have never found it. 

The studio was located underground in the basement. They could obviously tell that the company thatHyeim was talking about wasn't established properly yet. 

But nontheless, the managed to navigate the halls and knock on a door labeled “Recording studio 1”. It opened shortly thereafter to reveal Hyeim. 

“Welcome, come on it, come on in.” She smiled welcoming at them. Behind her a man was sitting. He was a slightly older man, probably in his late 30’s or early 40’s. Donghun assumed that he was the producer that Hyeim had mentioned. The man handed them each a few pieces of paper. 

“This is the song you're singing. It's called “This Christmas”. I have the demo here, you can listen to that in a moment. However first, I want you to familiarize yourselves with the song’s lyrics. I have split up the parts, but you are welcome to edit in those if you feel the need to. There's a small meeting room next door if you want to do it there. The demo is on this phone, if you want to listen to it as you assign the parts” He said. 

They spent the next hour going through the song several times, trying to match each part with the voice that fit the best. 

“This better pay off.” Byeongkwan complained. 

“I'm sure it will.” Junhee answered diplomatically, neither agreeing or disagreeing with the younger’s whining. 

The recording also went quite smoothly, with no major problems. Hyeim seemed very impressed with them, especially as they insisted they hadn't been trainees or idols before. 

She gave them the money she had promised them, as well as her business card. 

“If you ever decide that you want a career in the idol industry, don't hesitate to contact me.” She said, bidding them farewell. Junhee promised that they would, if that kind of situation should arise. Of course he knew it wouldn't. In less than 2 weeks, they would either be home or dead, depending on what came first. 

That was a very strange thought to Junhee. That they could all be dead within 2 weeks. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought. Which was also why they were trying their best with their mission. They had to get home as soon as possible. 

When they got home, Junhee and Donghun started making dinner. Sehyoon went to try to get Yuchan to eat a bit. Thankfully, the youngest's condition had stabilized a bit. He wasn't getting better, but at least he didn't seem to be getting worse anymore. 

But another chapter of the nightmare began that evening. 

“I think it's starting. I don't feel well.” Byeongkwan said, touching his forehead. Junhee placed his hand of his forehead. 

“You do feel a bit warm. Go lie down. Do you need anything?” Junhee asked. Byeongkwan shook his head. 

“No. I think I just want to sleep.” He said. From seeing Yuchan’s condition, he imagined the next day's would include a lot of sleeping. 

And so, 40% of their little group was down. And they still had 11 days left till Christmas.


	14. December 15th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of chapter yesterday. I was really tired when I got home, and just didn’t have the energy to write anything.

The day began with Junhee and Sehyoon going to the city center to try and figure out how to get the billboard. Donghun had decided to stay home and take care of Yuchan and Byeongkwan, whose condition had worsened since he initially started complaining about feeling ill. 

After a bit of searching, they found the billboard they wanted. They also found the number that they were supposed to call to rent it. 

“Hello, how may I be of assistance?” A male voice asked on the other end of the phone. 

Junhee gave the man the address of the billboard and said that they would be interested in renting it. He also mentioned the amount of money they had. 

“That will be enough for you to buy the billboard for 2 days. What do you want on the billboard?” 

Junhee pondered for a moment, deliberating over what would be the best message to display. 

“Merry Christmas to all. Help spread the holiday spirit. It would also be great if there was some festive or colorful effects on there as well” Junhee finally said. The second sentence of the message was ambiguous. To humans, it would just seem like an encouragement to spread happiness to others, but it also referred to the actual Christmas spirit that they were trying to create and harvest. 

“And when do you want it to be displayed?” The man asked. 

“From the 18th till the 20th, please.” Junhee said. He didn't quite know why he chose those dates, but they came to his mind in a way that made him want to say it. The man on the other end of the line confirmed their order, as well as a way for them to transfer the money. And then the deal was settled, and in a few days, their Christmas message would be displayed to the city. 

Back at the motel, Donghun was trying to take care of Byeongkwan and Yuchan. Yuchan was mostly just sleeping, but Byeongkwan was whining quite a bit. 

“My head hurts.” “I'm tired.” “I'm hungry.” 

Donghun sighed. He cared about Byeongkwan a lot. They were good friends, regardless of how much they used to annoy each other. But taking care of a sick Byeongkwan was quite a task.

He was still gonna do it, though. Donghun had come to the realization that when and if he also got sick himself, there wouldn't be anyone to take care of him or the others. Therefore, he wanted to give the younger elves a bit of care while he was still capable of doing so. 

So he spent the day running back and forth, fetching whatever Byeongkwan wanted, while also tending to Yuchan every once in a while. 

The youngest didn't really do much anymore, the illness having taken most of his energy, which Donghun found quite worrisome. Yuchan was ALWAYS energetic, sometimes to the point where it became a bit annoying. But seeing him so tired and ill was worse, much worse. It felt wrong, somehow, that Yuchan wasn't happy and over-excited like a golden retriever-puppy.

When Junhee and Sehyoon got home, they had brought a bit of take-away food. After they had tried to get their sick elves to eat a it, they sat down at the table themselves and ate in relative peace, or, as some people would call it, silence.


	15. December 16th

The next day was highly uneventful. After having gotten the billboard, which they had spent days trying to obtain, or at least made arrangements for it, they felt kind of purposeless. They didn't have many more ideas to complete their mission, but Junhee was also relatively confident that they had done well. It was difficult to know how much Christmas spirit they had created. Back home, in their world, they had a large reader, showing how much Christmas spirit had been made that year, as well as the portal, which was also an indicator. But on Earth, they didn't have anything. 

They finally decided to spend the day at the motel, where they had lived for about 2 weeks now. They had plenty of money left over after the billboard for them to stay there for the next 2 weeks, as well as provide enough food and such. In other words, they were set until the fateful day of the 24th. As it drew closer, it started dawning on the boys that if they hadn't made up for the spirit they wasted by going to earth, they would die. Maybe they would be able to make it a few days after Christmas, but if Santa didn't bring them back home at Christmas, they would be sure to perish soon thereafter. 

The small apartment they had rented had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen, and a medium sized living room. The three of them decided to sit down and watch a movie, a Christmas movie, of course, on the television in the living room. And then they decided to bring out the 2 youngest elves. Even if they probably wouldn't be able to enjoy the movie much, it was nice to be together, the 5 of them. So they dragged all 5 of the mattresses out into the living room, each took one, and put on a Christmas movie. About halfway through, Sehyoon paused it shortly to go and make some snacks for them. 

It wasn't a perfect day. Their situation, with 2 of them already seriously ill, and the 3 others simply waiting for the illness to take them as well, didn't permit anything to be perfect. But it was one of the best days they had had since they had gotten to Earth. It almost felt like they were back home, in their own world again. Just the 5 of them, hanging out, relaxing. For a few hours, they allowed themselves to not think about anything, not think about the illness, not think about the fact that they could all be dead in a week or two. They simply permitted themselves to act and feel like normal elves, having a normal day with their normal friends. 

“This is nice, don't you think?” Junhee asked, when the movie was nearly over. 

“Yeah, it really is.” Sehyoon answered. 

They ended up putting on another movie. 

And later, when they had to go to sleep, they also agreed to leave the mattresses in the living room, and hold a sort of sleepover. 

And such, the 5 of them fell asleep on the floor of the living room, at a pretty cheap motel, on Earth, where none of them belonged. And yet, they were happy.


	16. December 17th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone reading this, I want to say thank you. I am aware that this story isn’t very good. I’ve been suffering from writers block for most of the year, and therefore I’m a bit rusty in regards to writing. But doing this story has really gotten me going again, and I hope to be able to post more (and better) A.C.E stories soon after finishing this one.

The next morning, they decided to simply leave the mattresses in the living room and let them stay there. It was nice to sleep close to each other, it felt safe. They were far away from home, but when they were together, it felt a little more like home. 

Byeongkwan’s condition had pretty much plateaued by now. He, like Yuchan, wasn't getting any better, but he wasn't getting worse anymore, which was a relief, since he had been quickly declining for the past few days. 

Sehyoon had decided to go for a walk after breakfast. He felt the need to get out, get away from everything. Although he loved his friends a lot, his head sometimes got so full of thoughts that he had to get away to sort them out. The others understood this, and usually didn't question it too much. 

Back at the motel, Junhee was cleaning up after the breakfast, while Donghun tried coaxing/forcing the sick eleven to eat a bit. They understandably didn't have much of a desire for food, but Donghun insisted that it was important for them to eat something. 

Junhee was aware that it wouldn't be long until he would fall ill as well. He hasn't felt anything yet, but considering the time it took between Yuchan and Byeongkwan, it was probably only another day or 2 until he would start feeling the effects himself. To say that he wasn't worried, and maybe even scared, would be a lie. He was. But he felt optimistic. Considering how long Yuchan had now been sick, the probability of the three oldest making it till Christmas was quite high. It was only a week away. 

He was more worried about Yuchan and Byeongkwan, though. They had already been sick for several days now, and although they weren't acutely getting any worse, they weren't getting any better either. Junhee just hoped they would be able to hold on for another week. That's also one of the reasons why Donghun was so insistent on getting them to eat. 

They weren't going out today either, with the exception of Sehyoon. With their 2 most energetic members down, they didn't feel like they could do much of a difference anymore. They had done what they could until now. From now on, they wanted to let December do its job of getting people in the mood. Their billboard would be up tomorrow, and they would definitely go and look at it. But they had done the majority of their fighting. They hadn't given up, don't get them wrong, they would fight till the end, but they weren't sure what more they could do to fight. 

And that was the issue. They would soon be down to only 40% of their group being available, and they wouldn't be very productive. Tomorrow, they would see if they could do anything in the city, when they went to see the billboard. But for today, they were going to do as they wanted, which meant staying at home, being around each other, and relaxing.


	17. December 18th

When Junhee woke up the next morning, he felt like his head was about to split open. 

‘Okay, guess the illness has taken me as well.’ He thought, still trying to get out of bed. 

Donghun and Sehyoon were already sitting at the table enjoying their breakfast, when Junhee stumbled in. He practically fell over thin air and landed on the floor. Sehyoon quickly got out of his seat and went to help him up. 

“Junhee, are you okay?” He asked quite worriedly. Junhee didn't really get a chance to answer as Donghun placed a hand on his forehead. 

“You do feel quite warm, it's probably the illness.” Donghun said. 

“You should go back to bed. We’ll bring you some breakfast.” Sehyoon insisted. Junhee wanted to protest, but after the entrance he had made just before, he didn't seem to be in a position to do so, and went back to his bed. 

After having brought Junhee some breakfast, as well as encouraged him to go back to sleep, Donghun joined Sehyoon at the breakfast table again. 

“I guess it's just the 2 of us now.” He said, trying to be a bit funny, but failing. 

“Yeah. I'm happy we got a lot done while the others were around, so maybe we won't need to do much.” Sehyoon said. 

“Well, we definitely need to go and see the billboard today. And while we're there, we can see if we get some more ideas.” Donghun said. 

During the afternoon, they went to the city center. After getting lost for a little while, they finally found their board. 

It was quite impressive. It was a black background, but with their message written in big red and white font, to make it look similar to striped candy canes, and with holly branches and fireworks surrounding it. It wasn't the biggest board in the square, but it certainly was nice, and Sehyoon was sure it would draw some people’s attention. 

“I wish the others could see this.” Donghun said. 

“We can describe it for them when we get home. And I might even be able to draw it.” Sehyoon said. 

And that's exactly what he did. Donghun had almost completely forgotten that Sehyoon was a pretty good artist, and within 30 minutes or so, he had recreated the billboard on a piece of paper. Of course, it wasn't a perfect recreation, since it didn't have the lights or movement that the actual billboard had, but it was nice, and it summed up the board nicely. 

However, neither of them had come up with any new ideas for their mission. With the majority of their team down due to the illness, and it just being a matter of time before the same happened to them as well, the mission seemed too big a feat for just the two of them.


	18. December 20th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for missing another day. I was just so tired yesterday that I didn’t have the energy to write anything. But I’m gonna try my best to get a chapter up everyday from now till Christmas ^_^

Sehyoon woke up first the next day. The room was quiet, despite there still being 4 people sleeping there. He got out of bed and walked to the kitchen area, beginning the preparations for breakfast. 

Donghun woke up about 20 minutes after Sehyoon. The latter of them were almost done with preparing the food, and the two of them sat and ate in relative silence. It wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence, just a comfortable silence in the absence of much to talk about. 

It was strange how relaxed they were, considering that Christmas, their deadline, was only 4 days away now. But in truth, they were both sure they had met the threshold for the portal. Or at least that it would be met naturally before the deadline. December naturally brought a lot of Christmas spirit, as the holidays approached and people started getting in the mood. 

But time was still ticking. The younger elves were getting weaker by the day. Especially Yuchan and Byeongkwan’s conditions were worsening. They were barely even awake anymore, sleeping for most of the day. Sehyoon hoped they could hold on for just 4 more days, then they would be able to go home, and they would get better. If the myths were correct, they would start getting better as soon as they returned to their own world. He didn't totally understand the mechanics of the illness and cure, since their world didn't seem all that different from the human one. But nontheless, he was sure they would get better if they could get back home. 

“That woman, Hyeim, the one with the Christmas song, she called yesterday. The song is being released tomorrow already, apparently. They had rushed to finish it before Christmas, and they've gotten it done.” Donghun said. 

Even though they didn't have phones themselves, they had given Hyeim the number of the phone in their motel room, so that she could call them to let them know what was happening with their song. 

“That's cool. I'll look forward to listening to it.” Sehyoon said, his eyes staying focused on washing the dishes. 

“How are you feeling though? You've started feeling sick yet?” Donghun said. Sehyoon shook his head. 

“Not yet, no. It'll probably be tomorrow or the day after, judging by the time it took between the others.” Sehyoon said. Donghun nodded, but didn't say anything. 

At this rate, they might all be sick in time for Christmas. Donghun was sure they would be picked up anyway, as long as Santa and the elves managed to go through the portal. Many people had seen them go through the portal, so it had to have gotten out. 

That seemed so long ago, when they accidentally were pulled through the portal. But in reality, it had been less than 3 weeks. Donghun swore it felt more like 3 months. They had experienced so much in the time they had had here. And soon, it was coming to an end, in one way or another.


	19. December 21st

Before noon, Sehyoon was on the computer, searching music sites for this song. Hyeim had called the other day and told them the day and time for the release. Since they weren't exactly popular, they weren't expecting it to do very well, but there's always room for a Christmas miracle. 

Throughout the morning, he had felt a headache coming on. Sehyoon was fairly certain he would get worse by the end of the day. 

“Donghun, come here.” He yelled. Donghun, who was currently doing the dishes after breakfast in the kitchen, poked his head into the living room, questioningly. 

“I think I've found it. It has the same title, and it's from Hyeim’s company. But it's credited as being sung by an artist called ‘A.C.E’. Maybe she thought it would be cooler to come up with a name for us?” Sehyoon said. Donghun joined him on the couch. Junhee, Yuchan and Byeongkwan were lying on the floor, sleeping. 

They listened to the song. It wasn't a super original sound, especially for a Christmas song, but it was very pleasant to listen to, and it oozed of Christmas. It was slow, kinda r&b-ish, with lyrics about a reminiscing about a lost love around the holiday time. 

Donghun thought it was lovely. It had a certain sentimentality and a feeling of heartache, but still the nice, calm feeling of Christmas.

“It’s nice. Very nice.” Sehyoon said. 

“Yeah. It is” Donghun simply answered. 

Later on during the day, Sehyoon experienced the expected worsening of his symptoms. The headache got worse, he started getting nauseous when standing up for too long. 

“I think the illness is getting to me too. I'm gonna go lie down.” Sehyoon said, joining the other elves on the mattresses on the floor, leaving Donghun sitting at the table alone. 

The oldest went for a walk later on, after checking that the others had what they needed. He was basically alone now. Yuchan and Byeongkwan were barely reachable anymore, Junhee only woke up rarely, and when he did, he wasn't really thinking straight. And now Sehyoon was going down too. And while he was still relatively clear, he would slip away soon as well. And Donghun would start feeling the effects soon too. And then they would have gone from 5 to 0.


	20. December 22nd

Donghun awoke to a silent room on the 22nd of December. But it wasn't a peaceful, calm kind of silence. It was ominous, unsettling. 

He got out of bed before making breakfast for himself, after which he tried getting Junhee and Sehyoon to eat a bit. He attempted to wake up Yuchan and Byeongkwan too, but neither of them were responsive. Donghun prayed to whoever was in charge of the world, that they would be able to hold on for just a few more days. 

After breakfast, Donghun tried searching for their song online. He wanted to see if it was charting at all. He was shocked to see it in the low 10’s, at 12 on the melon chart. 

It truly was a Christmas miracle. 

He read some of the comments that people had left on the song. 

‘I've never heard of this group, but I need more from them.’ One commenter wrote. Donghun wondered what it would be like if they hadn't had the threat of the illness over them. If they had been able to stay on Earth for longer, would they have attempted to make more music? Would they had been successful? Would they have amassed a following? It was a fantasy, a dream, but it was a dream that Donghun would have liked. It was certainly better than their current situations, where their lives could be in danger. 

‘I love the melody, I'm definitely gonna be listening to this a lot during the next few days before Christmas.’ Another comment said

‘This song reminded me of a past lover. It's beautiful.’ A third commenter stated.

Many of the other comments echoed these sentiments, either praising the song itself or talking about the feelings that it brought out in them. 

“Sehyoon? Take a look at this.” Donghun said, urging said elf to look at the chart. Sehyoon rubbed his eye and tried focusing on the chart, despite the illness. 

“That's wonderful, Donghun.” Sehyoon mumbled, his eyes slowly closing again, sending him back to sleep, despite his efforts at keeping them open. 

The day was overall quite uneventful, as the past few days had been. Donghun stayed home to try to take care of the others. He wouldn't be able to do much by himself, anyway. There were 2 days left, until their work would either make or break. If they hadn't done enough, they would be stranded on Earth, and would surely die. But if they had done enough, they could be saved. 

It was a gamble, but Donghun had faith, and he knew the others did as well. Faith. It was the most important thing during this season. To believe, to trust in something. In yourself, in each other, in something bigger. And Donghun did believe, in all 3 of those.


	21. December 23rd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is Christmas, and therefore also the last chapter of this story. I want to thank everyone who have gotten this far in the story. I know it’s not really a masterpiece or anything, but it has still been fun writing it for you guys. Please look forward to the finale tomorrow ^_^

December 23rd. The day before Christmas. The longest day of the year for children and youthful souls. But to Donghun, it was short. He wanted to treasure this day. 

He had woken up with a light headache, and from what the others had told him, it was the first sign of the illness. This would be his last awake day on Earth. By the day after tomorrow, he would either be back in his own realm, or dying in this one. Just like his friends. 

Donghun spent the first half of the day trying to care for them, although there wasn't exactly much to do. Only Sehyoon was still responsive, the rest of them having gone into a kind of coma. It was kinda scary, how fast the illness had worked. Just 2 weeks ago, they were all perfectly fine, still fully believing that elves couldn't get sick. And yet, here they were, all sick and dying from an illness that they couldn't cure. 

Donghun still had hope. Hope that they would be saved. He wasn't certain, but he had faith in their mission and the work they had put into it. 

Over the afternoon, his symptoms gradually got worse. After the head age intensified, he started feeling dizzy and light headed. He went to lie down in the living room with the other elves. 

Even though the motel room actually had 2 bedrooms, at some point, about a week ago, they had decided to all just stay in the living room, to be around each other, to share each other's strength. Donghun didn't know whether it has actually helped. But it had been comforting, being able to see, hear and feel the others at almost all hours of the day. 

By the evening, Donghun had been forced to lie down, not feeling confident that he could stay on his feet for more than a few seconds before collapsing. He managed to get a bit of food, and tried to get Sehyoon to eat a bit. He wanted to feed the Byeongkwan, Yuchan and Junhee as well, but he simply were completely unable to wake them up. 

As Donghun fell asleep, he wondered and worried for what tomorrow would bring. Christmas was usually the happiest day of the year for elves, for obvious reasons. It was the day where all of their hard work paid off, where the presents they had worked hard all year to make, were finally delivered to the boys and girls of the Earth, who had wished desperately for them. But Donghun wouldn't have that happiness this year. None of them would.


	22. December 24th

The 24th was a short day for Donghun. Or...not really. But he didn't get to experience a lot of the day. He awoke briefly right before noon, but fell asleep again within 20 minutes. 

Then he awoke again a few hours later during the afternoon. He tried getting up to get some food, but only managed to stand up for a few seconds before he felt so drained that he got back in bed again and closed his eyes. 

The next time he awoke was during the night. He felt far more drained than he had earlier during the day. His eyelids wanted nothing more than to close again, and let him return to the peaceful sleep he had just experienced. Donghun didn't have the strength to fight against it. 

It was truly scary how quickly the illness had drained him. In just the span of 2 days, he had gone from being fine to being unable to stay awake for more than a few minutes, never mind getting out of bed or getting something to eat. 

He felt his eyes close again, and he didn't know if he would wake up again for a while. His eyelids got heavier as the minutes passed, feeling more and more like lead and stones were weighing them down. 

As his eyes closed, and the world disappeared only to be replaced by a dreamless sleep, the last thing Donghun heard, was the faint sound of bells ringing through the night.

************

Donghun woke up again, feeling far better than he had previously. Even before he opened his eyes, his mind repeated 2 words over and over again. 

We succeeded

As he opened his eyes, he found himself in his bed, in his home, in his own realm. A few other elves were standing around, some checking his condition, some seemingly working in the kitchen, probably making food. 

“He waking up.” A female elf said, apparently alerting the others to Donghun’s consciousness. 

“How are you feeling, Mr. Lee? Feel better?” A male elf asked him. He didn't recognize either of them, maybe they were volunteers or caretakers. Since elves didn't get ill, their realm had little to no doctors, but since elves did get old, there were caretakers to take care of the elderly elves. And maybe some of them had been assigned to take care of Donghun. 

“I feel much better. What happened?” Donghun said, reaching out for a glass of water being handed to him by the female elf from before. 

“You managed to repair the portal. Santa and the elves picked you up before they came back here.” She said. 

“How about the others? Are they okay?” Donghun asked. He was certain that Junhee and Sehyoon were fine, since they had only recently gotten sick, but he was more worried about Yuchan and Byeongkwan. He hadn't been checking on them for the past few days, due to his own illness. 

“All 5 of you are feeling much better. You should all be able to get up by the end of today.” The male caretaker said. 

And he was right.

As soon as he had gotten the green light to get up, Donghun had jumped out of the bed and had rushed out of the door to check on his friends. He decided to try Yuchan's home first. If he was the first to get sick, he might have also been the last to get healthy, and the others would probably go there as well. 

As he knocked on the door to Yuchan's house, a caretaker quickly opened it. As he stepped into the house, he saw that he had been right about all of them going here. Yuchan was still in his bed, awake, while Byeongkwan, Sehyoon and Junhee were sitting around in chairs, all of them chatting happily. When Donghun walked in, 4 pairs of eyes trained on him, before a choir of “Donghun!!!”s rung through the room.

After Donghun had gone around, giving all 4 of them a hug, he had sat down as well. 

“Are all of you okay?” He asked. 

“Yeah, we're fine. A bit tired still, but very relieved and, most importantly, alive.” Byeongkwan said. It was like a weight had been lifted from all of their shoulders. They were fine. They had made it back home, and everything was okay. In a few days, they could go back to their old lives. 

“This has been the best Christmas gift I have ever received.” Junhee said, happily, and they all agreed with him. 

“Merry Christmas.” Sehyoon said joyfully, receiving 4 equally joyous “Merry christmas”s in reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone. This was the last chapter of the story, I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Of course it had a happy ending, I couldn’t possibly end it any other way. 
> 
> Merry Christmas, and a happy new year to you all.


End file.
